Boehle pitches with pain of knee injury

As the Ivy League season draws ever nearer, and the road-weary Tigers look forward to a nice stretch of games in New Jersey, the baseball team will start its season with one of its two key starting pitchers—junior right-hander David Boehle. Boehle suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the team's first round of games against Old Dominion. As he threw the pitch, the ligament tore, but Boehle still managed to cover first base before leaving the game.

Boehle has certainly had his experiences with knee injuries. Earlier in his career, he had suffered a tear in the same knee, but this time of the MCL—the medial cruciate ligament. The knee had to be operated on, but Boehle made a full recovery.

Boehle will once again need surgery in order to repair the ACL, but that has not stopped him from pitching. He started two games over the break, the last game against Duke and the second game against William and Mary. Up against such high-caliber opponents, Boehle went 0-1, with a loss against the Tribe. In total, he pitched eight innings, giving up 16 hits and 13 runs, with only seven of those being earned runs. He did strike out three batters, but the effects of his injury were evident in his stats.

Through its road trip down south, Princeton has been trying to pick up where Boehle left off last season before his injury. The other experienced starter of the team, fellow junior right-hander Ryan Quillian— who was last year's Ivy League Player of the Year— stepped up his pitching over the break, leading the team to its first win. Quillian allowed only five hits and one earned run on five innings pitched in the team's first game against Duke.

The Tigers took that game 11-9. On the week, he went 1-1, pitching seven more innings in the first game against William and Mary. In that game, he only gave up five hits and four runs (two earned).

The other starting pitcher who stepped up his game was freshman right-hander Ross Ohlendorf. Ohlendorf got the start for two games during the break, and his numbers speak well for his performance. Although his first start resulted in a loss to the Blue Devils, Ohlendorf went four innings scattering four hits. Although he gave up six runs in those innings, not a single one was earned.

Ohlendorf also started in the final game of the break, as the Tigers faced the Tribe for the final time. He got the win, as Princeton defeated William and Mary, 8-2. Ohlendorf pitched five innings, scattered five hits and struck out five. He gave up only one unearned run, bettering his record to 1-1.

The rest of the Tiger starting pitchers suffered losses, as the team only went 3-8 on the break.

However, the pitching staff gained experience as they traveled south with one of their top two pitchers not at full strength. And it is that experience that will benefit the entire team as it moves into league play this weekend.

The Tigers are looking to build on the historic success of lat season. For the first time in more than 30 years Princeton advanced past its first game in the NCAA tournament after winning the Ivy League title.

Of course, the first step down that path — for the pitching staff and everyone else on the team — is to win their way through the Ivies.